http://news.stv.tv/east-central/296080-edinburgh-council-may-dismantle-departments-to-devolve-power/
Edinburgh Council’s departments could be dismantled in an effort to give residents more power.
Plans to take apart the five departments and give decision-making to neighbourhood partnerships will go before a full council meeting next Thursday.
After wading through all the business-speak mumbo-jumbo about "strands" and "spines" and "enhanced element of local service delivery" (?!) it is my basic interpretation of this that they want to put more stuff into the hands of the local teams, who currently do the street sweeping and that sort of thing.
"Further details on how this would work will go before councillors in November."
A nice idea if it gets things happening, but what implications are there for cycling if, for example, you are having to deal with multiple neighbourhood teams where paths cross boundaries. Or perhaps we would find that areas with active and established cycling communities (e.g. Marchmont, Shandon, parts of Leith) would be more vocal in lobbying their local department, resulting in a patchwork of cycling provision across the city?
Would you cycle along a nice path, swept of leaves and gritted on the cold days as far as the boundary with the next team when you find yourself skating across a rink of frosted leafmulch?
posts
